


Let's make some music

by NyakoChan



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boy Band, Alternate Universe - Music, Band Fic, Dancing and Singing, Inspired by Music, M/M, Music, Singing, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 17:17:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21165278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyakoChan/pseuds/NyakoChan
Summary: Emrys Entertainment has been around for six years. The Knights of Camelot have only been around for two. Arthur and Merlin stumble upon each other's song covers on YouTube and find their interest piqued.





	1. Chapter 1

Arthur had been lying in bed for the last three hours, waiting for the motivation to get up and start his day to strike him like lightning while he mechanically scrolled through the apps on his phone. No Twitter notifications, no new texts from Morgana or his bandmates, and no new important emails. His idle exploration brought him to YouTube and led him to half heartedly scan through his recommended channels and videos. It was only natural that they were all popular music channels, song covers, and a handful of funny cat videos. 

Oddly enough the channel that caught his eye was at the bottom of his recommended list and the profile picture was nothing especially unique. It was just a waist high shot of a lean young man with dark hair, wearing an oversized brown coat and dark wash skinny jeans, standing against a white background and his hands over his eyes. Arthur clicked on the channel, unsure why it had drawn his attention. 

Emrys Entertainment had been around on YouTube for six years and had thirteen covers and two vlogs. The most recent video was a year old now and nothing new had been posted since. Arthur poked around his channel and was surprised by the number of subscribers and views he had. The About page was very simple. All that was written was “Hi I’m Merlin. Let’s make some music!” 

Judging from the thumbnails alone, Merlin had managed to up his quality in videos as time went on. The thumbnails on the first couple of videos looked dated, just the younger version of the man and his guitar, sitting in an empty room with poor lighting. After that there was a noticeable difference in the quality of the images in the thumbnails from the dynamic poses to the zooming and focus of the images. The songs were acoustic covers that had been popular during the years they had been filmed. 

Arthur chose the most recent cover to see where Merlin’s talent currently lay. Although the thumbnail of the video was just an image of a guitar mid strum this video had the second most number of views on his channel. 

The video opened up with the single strum of an acoustic guitar, transitioning to the image of a laughing young man with short black hair, high cheekbones, and gentle but piercing blue eyes. His eyes crinkled in the corners to make crescent moons and his smile was all pearly white teeth as he gave off his honest, carefree laugh. His voice was clear and silvery, steady and strong. It was gentle for a man’s voice, smooth like honeyed mead. Arthur didn’t even hear the first few notes of the guitar because he was too busy absorbing the image of the singer. Arthur found himself completely captivated by the cutting gaze that seemed to dare the viewer to fall in love.

He wore a plain purple t-shirt and a blue bandana that hung loosely around his neck, showing off the pale column of his throat. He was thin but not scrawny, and he did seem to have some muscles under his t-shirt. His bared arms were decorated in a few tattoos of varying sizes. One on his left inner bicep flashed as he shifted the guitar in the right panel of the screen. It was a red medieval dragon breathing flames. Peeking out half way from under the sleeve of his t-shirt on his right arm was a strange symbol that had no meaning to Arthur, but looked whimsical in its design. Around his right forearm was an armband with intricate linework in the middle. The details were too hard to see from this distance. 

The camera switched to hands tapping the wooden side of a stool he sat on, beating out a rhythm for the song. He had colorful string bracelets and leather cords around his thin wrists, accentuating the sharp bones in his hands and wrists. His fingers were long and delicate like a pianist, and Arthur wasn’t surprised to see the next clip of the video was Merlin at a black synth, wearing bulky headphones and jamming away the accompaniment. 

The video came back to Merlin at the microphone, body moving with the music as he strummed his guitar. The young man’s gaze was half lidded as he sang into the mic, but only for a moment. He opened his eyes and looked directly into the camera with a concentrated intensity, like he was meeting the gaze of a lover and had caught them staring. Sometimes he darted his face to the side as he took in a breath. 

The cinematography was pretty decent, not that Arthur knew much about editing himself. The camera view was constantly in motion, focusing on Merlin head on one moment and coming to the side of him the next. Sometimes it panned along the body of the guitar, focusing on the frets and the way the fingers moved along them. There were brief clips of him playing the synth and his makeshift drum thrown in the mix as well. 

Arthur took in the singer’s angular profile as the camera focused on the side of him. He couldn’t help but watch the way his mouth moved, his lips plush and rosy red, and even his perfectly straight teeth as he sang. There was a cord in his neck that stuck out when he hit higher notes and Arthur couldn’t help but imagine running his own tongue and teeth along that long white neck.

Merlin would sometimes be looking off to the side and other times straight ahead, a far off look in his eye as though he were seeing through the mic, through the very walls of his home, perhaps seeing the image of what the song was depicting. And then his gaze would slide up and over, he would look straight at the camera and his eyes would go all soft and crinkle in the corners again.

Merlin’s fingers were talented as he finger-picked out the bridge to the song. The camera was focused on the way his fingers moved quickly and accurately along the fretboard. The harmony of the accompaniment and the gentle rhythmic tapping of the percussion filled Arthur’s speakers. Merlin then gave the camera a mischievous grin, one eyebrow cocked, blue eyes twinkling with mirth and the prospect of melting the hearts of all who watched. He was passionate when he sang, body constantly in motion, expressions coming and going in earnest as he poured his love and dedication into the song, into his art. Distantly Arthur remembered the song that he was covering was supposed to be about coming home and nostalgia. 

The song was slowing down, coming to a close and was more instrumental than lyrical. The words were spoken softer, his voice caressed the words as they slipped off his tongue. 

Merlin gazed up into the camera with a look of longing, maybe even pining, for whoever he was singing his heart out to. His brows creased in concentration as he hit that last high note and then smoothed out. He gave a cheeky wink, the last chord was strummed, and the camera faded to black. 

Arthur, interest thoroughly piqued, hit replay.


	2. Chapter 2

The Knights of Camelot were trending on YouTube today. The mix-up mash-up pop rock cover had only been up for a few hours and already the views and were well into the six digit figures. 

They were a newer group on YouTube that covered mostly rock and pop music and had only been around for two years now. Merlin first heard about them through social media as they quickly gained popularity for their devilish good looks and their excellent music. Indeed all of the band members were fit young men and together they really put up a charming and attractive boy-band appearance.

Unlike Merlin they already had the technology and the skills to record an engaging music video at the start. Just based on the thumbnails alone it looked like the quality of their videos started off great from the get-go and only got better and more professional through time and practice. 

He was sure they were all great songs to listen to and he would surely work his way through all of their videos, but he ended up starting with one of their first songs originally done by a pop rock boy-band that had been extremely popular at the time and had since fizzled out. 

The video opened up at a side angle to show the profiles of the Knights of Camelot sitting side by side in a line, instruments at the ready. One of them cleared their throat. They had all coordinated their outfits to match for the video, looking sharp in their dark red dress shirts, grey-black vests and black slacks. 

From left to right it was the percussionist using a drum machine, a man with tanned skin and short brown hair and a smile that could light up the darkest of nights, Lancelot. Next was the bass guitarist and backup singer, a handsome bearded man with shaggy, silky brown hair that could easily make the next face of a L’Oreal commercial, Gwaine. Then there was the blond, blue eyed man of the group, clearly the leader and face of the band with his stunning blue eyes, cutting jaw and feather soft hair holding his electric guitar in hand, Arthur. Finally, was the hulking figure of a man with bulging muscles and a stoic expression, larger and broader than any of the others, that sat in front of a pretty white keyboard and a mic. He looked imposing next to the instrument but his large hands were posed at the ready, fingers curved gracefully to the keys, Percival. The men all looked to their leader in the middle and he began enthusiastically strumming the guitar, the first notes of the song spurring the others into action. 

Suddenly they were no longer sitting in the room with their instruments. The footage now showed the group at a brightly colored child’s playground throwing down a basketball, a football, a set of tennis rackets, and a frisbee into a pile on the woodchip covered ground. They all looked at their collection of toys on the ground. Percival reached out and ruffled Lancelot’s hair. This time their outfits were not coordinated and instead they were dressed in their own style of casual clothes.

The video flashed back to them with their instruments, the vocals just now beginning. Arthur was the center of attention and he cocked his eyebrows invitingly, welcoming the viewer to stare openly at his handsome face and his icy blue eyes and his strong jawline. His tongue licked across his pink, pink lips. The camera panned out just enough to allow Gwaine into the shot as he took over the next set of vocals. Gwaine shook his glorious mane of hair and belted out his verse.

As the chorus started up the video began a smooth but constant transition between a montage of the group’s outside activities and them playing their instruments. They were on the swingset, but only two could sit at a time. Arthur and Lancelot sat on the swings while the other two pushed them, though Gwaine got knocked back by the returning body and fell out of the picture. Next the four of them were running up and down the plastic slides of the playground, their adult bodies far too large to be on the jungle gym. Merlin couldn’t help the smile at the ridiculousness of a bunch of grown men playing on a child’s playscape. They played limbo under the pull up bars designed for much smaller children, though it was Percival that struggled the most and he eventually collapsed under the bar before he could make it all the way through. 

Merlin watched, enraptured by the energy the young men gave off in their video, hopping around, laughing, dancing, and singing. They had recorded clips of them mouthing the words to the song so they could sync up the clips with the music they would later play. His eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to the flash of skin and the hint of red boxers that showed when the lead singer was jumping around. At one point it looked like they were having a twerk-off as they all took turns trying to out-twerk each other (Gwaine won by a landslide). Merlin certainly had his eyes glued to that bit. They were like a bunch of rowdy college boys with too much energy and time on their hands and the youthful excitement they gave off was contagious. Merlin couldn’t help another wide grin that spread across his face. Truly their energy embodied the message a song about living life and being young conveyed. 

The men were racing past the camera, playfully pushing each other in an effort to take the lead. Gwaine tripped in the back but the camera followed the three that were still running. The next shot was them running back the way they came, though Percival now carried Gwaine piggyback. 

There were quick clips of them playing with the football they brought, throwing the frisbee around and getting it stuck in a tree, and also a sort of modern day jousting where Arthur clung to Lancelot’s back holding a tennis racket out like a lance, and Gwaine was clutching to Percival’s back and holding his out in return. They stood opposing each other, slowly charging forward. The clip changed before they clashed. 

There was an interlude between verses and the video switched back to the band with their instruments, each of them focusing intently on their own part of the song. Merlin only had eyes for Arthur at the front, fingers flying on the electric guitar, bobbing his head to the beat and dancing in place. Merlin found himself completely lost within the brilliant blue of his eyes and he wondered if there was anyone lucky enough to fall beneath the intensity of that gaze at the beginning of every day and the end of every night.

The band hit the last note, the last chord of the song, and all of them were smiling, proud and confident in their performance. The video image fell out of focus and panned out, as though leaving the scene before the screen faded to black. There was still a bit of time left on the video though the song had finished. Merlin waited to see what would happen.

It was a brief clip from their blooper reel of Arthur getting nailed in the back of the head by the football. He went down and out of the shot and Lancelot came running over to see if he was okay. Gwaine was pointing and laughing in the back. The video ended in a final black screen.

Merlin couldn’t help the fond laugh that erupted from him. Just watching the band’s pure enjoyment of jamming out together made Merlin’s fingers twitch for his own guitar. If he recalled correctly, he and Will had last recorded about a year ago just before Merlin had moved out of his small hometown and into the big city. Maybe it was time to get back into recording songs. 

Merlin closed the YouTube app for now and switched over to his texts. Will was at the top of the list. 

_Wanna make some music?_

**Author's Note:**

> Because I watch the same song cover videos over and over, I was inspired to make a Merthur band au. You can fill in any song you think is appropriate but I was specifically listening to covers for Castle on the Hill and Live While We're Young for Merlin and Arthur respectively.


End file.
